The Gadfly is a novel by Ethel Lilian Voynich, published in 1897 (United States, June; Great Britain, September of the same year), set in 1840s Italy under the dominance of Austria, a time of tumultuous revolt and uprisings. The story centers on the life of the protagonist, Arthur Burton, as a member of the Youth movement, and his antagonist, Padre Montanelli. A thread of a tragic relationship between Arthur and his love Gemma simultaneously runs through the story. It is a story of faith, disillusionment, revolution, romance, and heroism.
Themes
The book is primarily concerned with the culture of revolution and revolutionaries. Arthur, the Gadfly, is an embodiment of the tragic Romantic hero, who comes of age and returns from abandonment to discover his true state in the world and fight against the injustices of the current one. Gemma, his lover, and Padre Montanelli, his Priest, show various forms of love via their tragic relations with the focal character of Arthur: religious, romantic, and family. These emotions are compared with those which Arthur finds and shows as a revolutionary. The relationship between religious and revolutionary feelings is particularly drawn on. This is made particularly explicit at the climax of the book where sacred descriptions intertwine with reflections on the Gadfly's fate. It is debatable to what extent an allegorical comparison can be drawn between the Gadfly and Jesus.
The landscape of Italy, in particular the Alps, is a pervading focus of the book, with its often lush descriptions of scenery conveying the thoughts and moods of characters.
Background
According to historian Robin Bruce Lockhart, Sidney Reilly — a Russian-born adventurer and secret agent employed by the British Secret Intelligence Service — met Ethel Voynich in London in 1895. Ethel Voynich was a significant figure not only on the late Victorian literary scene but also in Russian émigré circles. Lockhart claims that Reilly and Voynich had a sexual liaison and voyaged to Italy together. During this scenic tarriance, Reilly apparently "bared his soul to his mistress," and revealed to her the story of his strange youth in Russia. After their brief affair had concluded, Voynich published in 1897 her critically acclaimed novel, The Gadfly, the central character of which, Arthur Burton, was allegedly based on Sidney Reilly's own early life. However, Andrew Cook, a noted biographer of Reilly, disputes Lockhart's romanticized version of such events to be doubtful and counters instead that Reilly was perhaps informing on Voynich's radical, pro-émigré activities to William Melville of the Metropolitan Police Special Branch.
Popularity
With the central theme of the book being the nature of a true revolutionary, the reflections on religion and rebellion proved to be ideologically suitable and successful. The Gadfly was exceptionally popular in the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China exerting a large cultural influence. In the Soviet Union The Gadfly was compulsory reading and the top best seller, indeed by the time of Voynich's death The Gadfly is estimated to have sold 2,500,000 copies in the Soviet Union alone.
The Russian composer Mikhail Zhukov turned the book into an opera "The Gadfly" ("Овод" 1928). In 1955, the Soviet director Aleksandr Fajntsimmer adapted the novel into a film of the same title (Russian: Ovod). Composer Dmitri Shostakovich wrote the score (see The Gadfly Suite). The Romance, a segment from this composition, along with some other excerpts, has since become very popular. Shostakovich's Gadfly theme was also used in the eighties, in the BBC TV series Reilly, Ace of Spies.
Film adaptations
* 1928. Soviet Georgian film (Krazana) directed by Kote Mardjanishvili.
* 1955. The Soviet director Aleksandr Fajntsimmer adapted the book into a film of the same name (Russian: Овод, Ovod). Dmitri Shostakovich composed the score, known as The Gadfly Suite. The Romance section of this score has since become popular, and was used as the theme music for the series Reilly, Ace of Spies about master spy Sidney Reilly.
* 1980. Film of Nikolai Mashchenko with Andrei Kharitonov, Sergei Bondarchuk and Anastasiya Vertinskaya.
